2017 New Law: Illinois hairstylists required to have special training to watch for domestic violence.

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2017 New Law: Illinois hairstylists required to have special training to watch for domestic violence.

Starting Jan. 1, Illinois Cosmetologists, will be required by law to have special training on how to handle conversations about domestic violence and sexual assault.

Under the new measure signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner last summer, the state's 88,000 licensed beauty professionals must take an hour-long course designed to teach them to recognize signs of domestic violence and ways to address it. Stylists will be required to complete the course while applying for a new license, and then as an additional hour added to the 14 hours of continuing education required for license renewal every two years. The law includes barbers, cosmetologists, aestheticians, hair braiders and nail technicians and will be enforced by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.Illinois is the first state to adopt such a mandate, according to Illinois state Rep. Fran Hurley, who sponsored the bill that led to an amendment in the Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics, Hair Braiding and Nail Technology Act of 1985. Hurley and other legislators worked closely with Chicago Says No More, a nonprofit organization that works to combat domestic violence and sexual assault, to develop the law.

The following link is for the text of House Bill 4264, showing these cosmetology law amendments as they affect different sections of the Cosmetology act of Illinois: